Governor Patricks CORI reform bill

01/13/08

We have read the governor’s proposal to reform CORI and would like to respond to it. We have long awaited this proposal and had high hopes of its content. This governor has been very open to listening to CORI reform advocates and that is very much appreciated. He shows a genuine interest in fixing some of the problems that have been presented to him.

The governor’s proposal does address some important issues such as lowering the waiting period to seal records from 10 to 5 for misdemeanors and 15 to 10 for felonies.

Governor Patrick’s proposal falls very short on one main issue, non-conviction and dismissed records. While he did allow for shielding and sealing records of convicted criminals after 5 or 10 years much to our surprise he failed to take any action to shield or seal non-conviction and dismissed records immediately or within a more reasonable timeframe. This is an enormous failure of his proposal that cannot be overlooked. It makes one wonder why would the Governor offer to assist convicted criminals while punishing those who were found not guilty in a court of law.

Unfortunately, because of this we cannot support the governor's proposal as it is written.

In addition we also do not support a blanket lifetime ban on any and all sex related charges(conviction and non-convictions) which can never be sealed. We also oppose the expansion of disseminating all CORI records which includes juvenile and adult sealed records to all law enforcement agencies.

There are several other portions of the bill which we oppose but these were the primary objections.

We suggest that everyone contact not only Governor Patrick but their representatives, Senate President Therese Murray and Speaker of the House Salvatore F. DiMasi and inform them not to support Governor Patrick’s CORI reform bill unless language to automatically seal all non-conviction and dismissed records is amended to the bill.

Governor Patrick's Press Release on CORI Reform

Governor Patrick's Executive Order

Governor Patrick's Proposed Bill